cure my bloodlust - VaNoé

a travern visit

"Have you heard about the vampires terrorizing the village in the area west of here? The one everyone is talking about..."

My hand grabbed the cold glass, while I gazed disinterestedly at the red, shiny liquid inside.
The coolness of the glass was a clear contrast to the pleasant warmth of my hands, which I owed to the temperature of the room I was in.

"Yes of course, how could I not have heard about that?!"
Growled a deep, irritated voice.
That was the moment, were I became clairaudient and lifted my chin a little.
My eyes flashed unobtrusively to the person whose loud voice I just heard.

A fat, elderly man with a face far too red, tilted his head back and then poured his alcoholic beverage - as if it were a glass of water - down his throat.
A woman was sitting on his lap, her arms wrapped around his neck.
She looked much younger than he did, she had probably drank so much, that she no longer recognized whose lap she was sitting on or had just let him buy her.

"It's not that far away from here, is it? I'm starting to worry about it, you hear that a lot lately..."
His rather quiet interlocutor replied, only to then close his eyes and absentmindedly mumble something to himself, which was lost in the music and the conversations of the other visitors of this spot.

A tavern - a place where people gathered and freely chatted about God and the world.
A supposedly good place to get information - in any case, the chances to pick up some useful things from the citizens ramblings were good.
Joy and desire but also fears and insecurity - alcohol was always a way that helped people to talk more openly about their feelings.

"Like I always said! The church is a bunch of incompetent bastards!!"

There was a loud bang, as the drunkard threw his empty glass on the wooden table in such an aggressive way that I had to flinch reflexively against my will.

"DAMNIT! THEY SHOULD HAVE ALREADY ERADICATED THESE BEASTS LONG AGO!!"

Some voices in the room fell silent and glances darted to the attention magnet, that was disturbing the peace of their late evening.

Jackpot.
An yelling idiot that had drank too much and could loudly reveal new information?
That was just right for me...

"Shhhht! Don't yell like that.."
Hissed his friend, who had not lost his sense of decency from the alcohol yet.
"But you're right.. what have we done wrong, that God allows something like that?"

"God?"
The fat man filled the inn with his ugly, booming laugh.
"Proof that God doesn't exist..!"
He took a short breath, as his lungs wouldn't allow longer sentences, before continuing theatrically;
"is the existence of these monsters!"
He grinned, pleased from his friend's indignant expression.

The clinking of a falling glass caught my attention, making me take notice instantly - leading my observing eyes from what had happened before to the source of the noise.

My eyes now fixated on a young man, sitting all alone at a solitary table - as I did - not far from me and the two gentlemen.
He was well dressed, looked well groomed.
Judging by his clothes, he did not really fit into this run-down bar any more than I did.
With his hair white as his coat and hat, and darker skin tone, he stood out in the crowd.

He had knocked over a glass - it had broken on the floor - and now he was staring into space, startled, as if something terrible had just happened to him.
After a few seconds, he regained his composure and sat up a little straighter to close his eyes and take a deep breath.

What was wrong with him?
He seemed kind of tense.

My eyes rested on him for a while, out of sheer curiosity, until they returned to the 'gentlemen', who kept discussing more and more loudly.
They were now joined by a waiter who did not looked too happy with his noisy, drunken clientele.